Sinatra - A Complete Life Hardcover - 1997

From the publisher

Sinatra: The Man Behind the Myth, by New York Times bestselling author J. Randy Taraborrelli, is the definitive and explosive biography of one of the world's most controversial, fascinating entertainers. Frank Sinatra's career has spanned more than a half century, with some 1,300 recordings, 60 films, two Oscars, and numerous Grammys. He is an American icon with a repertoire of classic standards that have, in a sense, become the soundtrack of our lives: "My Way", "That's Life", "New York, New York", "Strangers in the Night", "Fly Me to the Moon", and dozens of others. Sinatra's ability to endure and triumph in a changing musical and show business world has made him what so many other stars only claim to be: legendary.

Sinatra: The Man Behind the Myth takes Frank Sinatra's vast audience where it has never been before: deep inside the private life and affairs of this complex, emotional man, who once called himself "an eighteen-carat manic-depressive". The reality of the Sinatra story is all here -- rife with sex, danger, inspiration, and show business politics.

The author provides new, astonishing details of Sinatra's many tempestuous romances, including those with Ava Gardener, Mia Farrow, Juliet Prowse, and Marilyn Monroe. The reader will learn about:

- His romantic, platonic, and at times even volatile relationship with Elizabeth Taylor

- The sad and touching story of Sinatra's relationship with Nancy Reagan

- His unforgiving anger against Shirley MacLaine

- The continuing father-daughter feud between Frank and his daughter Nancy

- How the kidnapping of Frank Sinatra Jr. in December 1963 has affected Frank Jr.'s entire life and his relationship with his father

- Thetrue source of the friction between Frank and his wife Barbara that has lasted for so many years

- How his loss of memory in his last years affected his performance

This book also provides the first true account of Sinatra's ties to the underworld and of his surprising influence in American politics and history. The close connections between Frank and the key players in his life -- Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford, the Kennedys -- are described in vivid, exciting detail.

Sinatra: The Man Behind the Myth also covers the difficult recent years, his illnesses and his regrets. He did it "his way", but now he wishes he had done some of it differently. As an elderly, sick man, Sinatra has taken a look back, and he doesn't like all that he sees. Drawing on hundreds of interviews with Sinatra's closest friends and associates, and on scores of legal documents, the author does what has never been done before: he explains Frank Sinatra's often tortured but always rewarding life and career in a balanced, informed, and honest manner.

This account of Frank Sinatra finally puts into historical perspective the life and career of the man who not only lived the American Dream, but defined it.